During the upcoming summer (June-August), me and my family are planning to go from Australia - Croatia - Norway - Australia again. However, I really really want to fly the A380 now that it is out and as it will be coming on the Singapore-London route. My family are not die-hard aviation fans like you or me, so they would rather fly to some central european destination and get from there to Croatia (as it is shorter and we have found better connections).

So here is my problem.

For me to have any chance of flying the A380, I must find a good connection that involves as little flights as possilble.

Thanks for any help.

P.S. - we are willing to fly to any other airports around Rijeka as Rijeka is very, very small.

FR flies daily from London Stansted to Trieste. From there it's a 80 km ride to Rijeka.
Found this on-line:

Trieste - Rijeka by Bus
There are several buses a day on this route, and the journey time is only 2 - 2.5 hours. See timetables by SAF (Fiume is the Italian for Rijeka) and Autotrans. Buses depart from the main bus station in Trieste, situated at Piazza della Liberta 11 (next to the main railway station). For a timetable of buses from Trieste Airport to the main bus station, see the APT website and click on the PDF document link.

or

Trieste Airport to Opatija/Rijeka
Bosmere Travel (info@bosmeretravel.co.uk) in the UK offer a service whereby people are picked up from Trieste Airport in a people carrier or car depending on numbers. The main route is to Opatija and Rijeka, but other areas served on demand. Example price Â£85 to Opatija for a car. Bosmere Travel can also arrange accommodation in hotels and private apartments in most of Istria and the northern islands.

we are renting a car so busses should be no problem. Venice is close enough, but when we will sit down and talk about this, going through london and to Venice does not sound great when we can travel through somewhere closer to get to the same airport or even closer!!!

London Stanstead is not an option for us, as there is too much hassle getting from Heathrow to Stanstead with customs, security, etc.

Thanks for the replies so far, but the more the better.

Just realized this might be in the wrong discussion (not sure), so if there is a need to move it, move it!

easyJet have flown Luton to Rijeka for the last two summers, but at present the route is not showing for next summer... It is very likely it is still to be added to the summer 08 timetable, and will operate 4 times weekly like last year.

By the way, there is a new airline flying from Croatia to Norway, called TRAXX AIR INTERNATIONAL.
No official web-page yet, but you can get in touch with them via their travel agency http://www.traxx.no/.

Quoting Debonair (Reply 7):By the way, there is a new airline flying from Croatia to Norway, called TRAXX AIR INTERNATIONAL.
No official web-page yet, but you can get in touch with them via their travel agency http://www.traxx.no/.

Thanks, we'll look into that, Norwegian doesn't start their Rijeka-Oslo flights until 30/06/07 so that is too late.

So far it looks like we might take a direct flight from SIN-MXP, we get the 77W (so new products) and we might fly with the A380 back in late July/early August (maybe even in business). But nothing is final yet.

By the way, I've heard that the extra costs SQ are charging for their premium classes with the newer products are going away soon, but when?

To get to that area you can also fly to Pula, Zadar, Split. Lubljana, Zagreb or even Vienna. Rental cars ar really expensive in Croatia. So if you are going to be there for any amount of time it would be cheaper to rent the car in Italy, Austria or even Germany. Munich is like 5 hours by car. Contrary to what I heard, Croatia is an easy country to drive in. The only thing I dont like is that for so much water there are very, very few beaches to go to.

Quoting Rlwynn (Reply 9):The only thing I dont like is that for so much water there are very, very few beaches to go to.

That isn't much of a problem, we have friends that live in Croatia, so we are not there for the typical holiday, but to see friends. We've been there plenty of times, but this is the first time we go from Australia to get there.

We really aren't looking for cheap travel (come on we're flying from Australia, some more really doesn't matter ), but for schedule. I am looking for the fastest and easiest way from LHR to any airport close to Rijeka that leaves in the morning (Singapore flight lands really early).

You may be better off flying into Zagreb. There are more flights to Zagreb, and from there you can drive to Rijeka. I think this is what most travellers to Rijeka do. And driving in Croatia isn't bad at all. If the company is paying for the rental, all the more reason to drive from Zagreb.

Just fly with Croatia Airlines to Zagreb from Heathrow! Very simple. Then drive 1.5hour down the motorway to Rijeka. I don't see the big issue. Croatia Airlines have flights at 10:50am somedays and somedays at aroun 17:00 from Heathrow to Zagreb. If you want to leave immidatly from heathrow you could flight a flight with Austrian airlines to Ljubljana via Vienna and then drive the 1.5hours from there to Rijeka too...